What Does 1 Chronicles 18:3 Mean in the King James?
And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Dominion here is a hand set at the boundary, and that hand is secured by a blow.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you see dominion as material reach: a hand set toward a boundary, and a rival struck to make that claim hold. The Euphrates names the far edge, while violence remains part of the act of extension.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This passage dissolves the idea that dominion here is only a title or inward authority: it is territorial control secured through a blow.
THE ROOT
לְהַצִּיב
le-hatsiv to set
GROWS FROM
יצב
y-ts-b
to stand, station, or set in position
“stablish his dominion” in this verse is le-hatsiv to set. The form לְהַצִּיב (le-hatsiv, “to set in place”) governs יָדוֹ (yado, “his hand”): the underlying picture is a hand stationed at the Euphrates. The verse’s “dominion” is not abstract; it is a ruler’s reach fixed at a boundary.
ALSO GROWS
hityatsev: to take one’s stand; to present oneself
הִתְיַצֵּב
This form makes the root’s spatial force clear: one takes a position and stands in it.
matsiv: setting or placing; one who establishes
מַצִּיב
This form keeps the causative sense: setting something into a position, the action behind “stablish.”
וַיַּךְ
vayyakh struck
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
to strike or inflict a blow
“smote” in this verse is vayyakh struck. The verb keeps the means of extending this reach explicit: it is accomplished by striking a rival. The text binds the territorial claim to violence; the force is part of the act.
ALSO GROWS
makkah: a blow, wound, or plague
מַכָּה
This noun carries the strike into its result, making the force of the verse concrete.
makkeh: one who strikes
מַכֵּה
This form names the agent of the blow, keeping the action and its actor visible.
THE PATTERN
Rule is disclosed by the size and boundary of the domain its reach encompasses.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:THE THREAD
David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.The parallel uses the same Hebrew verb for setting David’s hand at the Euphrates, while the KJV renders the result as recovering a border. The shared image makes the hand a territorial claim, with the blow attached to its reach.
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